local messaging not working

[surjeet singh_2]

Local messaging is not workling on the system , when i try sending mail to 'root' using 'root' mail goes but it never reaches the destination . 'root' file size under '/var/mail' is 'zero' bytes. Problem seems to have started after the '/var/mail/root' file was deleted and created again.

[Joseph Loo]

hi,

what is the permission for that file:

# ll /var/mail/root

any user write permission granted to it?

regards.

[Bejoy C Alias]

After sending the mail , check the contents of the log file /var/adm/syslog/mail.log for any error messages

[Muthukumar_5]

Try as,

# sendmail -v root@localhost
hi
bye
root@localhost... Connecting to local...
root@localhost... Sent


It is saying that it is connecting and sent mail.

hth.

[Fabio Ettore]

Hi,

if you delete the root mail file under /var/mail you shouldn't need to re-create manually that file because when a new mail arrives to root the root mail file should be created automatically by the system. I have just tried:

- rename file /var/mail/root;
- send a mail to root by sendmail;

/var/mail/root is re-created automatically.

Please don't forget to assign points to people that helped you.

Best regards,
Fabio

[surjeet singh_2]

Hi Sorry i didnot see the replies and statred another thread. I have tried all the three suggestions but its not working , after removing the mail file its not re-created . The message remils in the queue and generates dead letter . Permissions to the file are also ok . Tried sending mail thru sendmail as well but its not working .

[Ermin Borovac]

What are the permissions and ownership on /usr/bin/rmail? It should like like this

-r-sr-sr-x root mail /usr/bin/rmail

[Muthukumar_5]

Pls run sendmail in verbose mode. We can found problem easily.

sendmail -v @localhost
hi
bye
ctr+d


Check in mail command, whether new mail is sent to that user.

hth.

[vinod_25 · Accepted solution]

hi surjeet

Check the ownership on /usr/bin/rmail. It should look like this:
-r-sr-sr-x 2 root mail 45056 Nov 7 1997 rmail

If it does not, the following commands will set everything correctly:
chown root:mail /usr/bin/rmail
chmod 6555 /usr/bin/mail

set the /var/mail/root permission as

-rw-rw---- 1 root mail 14264665 Jun 24 22:19 root

regards

vinod k

[Bejoy C Alias]

After sending the mail what is the logs in /var/adm/syslog/mail.log or syslog

[surjeet singh_2]

After sending the mail following error is generated in mail.log

Jun 28 11:07:02 nmssrv2 sendmail[22856]: LAA22856: from=root, size=267, class=0,
pri=30267, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200506280537.LAA22856@nmssrv2.r01.netact.hutch.com>
, relay=root@localhost
Jun 28 11:10:22 nmssrv2 sendmail[22858]: LAA22856: to=root, ctladdr=root (0/3), delay=00:03:20, xdelay=00:03:20, mailer=local, stat=Can't create output
Jun 28 11:10:22 nmssrv2 sendmail[22858]: LAA22856: LAA22858: DSN: Can't create output

[Bejoy C Alias]

try 'sendmail -d0.1 -v root < /dev/null' also paste the permissions of sendmail binary
'll /usr/sbin/sendmail' and the file /var/mail/root

[Bejoy C Alias]

Check the diskspace in /var also , whether /var is a seperate mount point or it is in / itself ? then check the space of / also.

[surjeet singh_2]

The problem was with file permission. For any user the permission shud be rw-rw---, in my case there were no group permission.